Allergic to cigarette smoke?

[*~Blue~*]

My boyfriend told me sometime last week that he is allergic to cigarette smoke. I don't smoke and no one in our families smokes so I didn't really think too much about it until one of my coworkers mentioned that if you blow smoke in his face, he'll sneeze and yet he has been smoking ever since he was 12 (bad coworker! bad!!!! Sorry... I'm a bit against cancer sticks.... )) and he's never had a problem with his own cigarettes.

SO! The point to this post.... I seem to have lost it.... hold on, it's gotta be around here somewhere..... *rifles through papers on desk* Aha! Here it is!

I was trying to ask if anyone on this board is allergic to cigarette smoke and how severe it is. Is it like... ragweed severe or like a single sneeze?

Blue

[krazykat]

I was trying to ask if anyone on this board is allergic to cigarette smoke and how severe it is.

I would love it if cigarette smoke made me sneeze rather than the actual effect that it does have on me... everytime I am around other people smoking I cough like crazy as my asthma goes nuts. Since the smoking ban came into effect in Scotland in March 2006, it had become much better as I can now go to a pub without having to suck on the ventolin before and after, but the downside is that if I'm unexpectedly caught with somebody snoking now that I inevitably end up gasping for breath and sucking on my inhaler like a drowning fish

So, yes, I am very allergic to cigarette smoke, but not in a way that I or anybody else, would enjoy.

[Chanel_no5]

My sister was, she sneezed all the time if she inhaled cigarette smoke, but now she doesn't (thank God, I hate family members sneezing).

I also have a character, who's allergic to almost everything . And she's allergic to cigarette smoke as well. Not as much as she is allergic to hay or pollen, but it makes her sneeze from time to time.

[Armor.]

Ah. Yes, I am allergic to smoke. Not in the way we would all love though

It makes me asthma go nuts. Usually, I can smell it from miles away and already know someone is smoking. It's crazy how sensitive I am to it

[Guest LadyErisana]

I'm not allergic to cigarette smoke that I know of, but I can't STAND being around the scent. it makes my throat go dry, & i just feel gross all around.

[Shay]

I'm pretty allergic to it. It doesn't make me sneeze though. Sometimes it gives me a runny nose, but most of the time it's coughing, headache, and asthma. I can't even be around someone that has smoked recently or I'll start reacting to just the smell of it.

[Jemmabean]

Technically, noone is allergic to cigarette smoke, just like technically noone's allergic to perfume or scents, either. Allergies produce a histamine response, and while I'm too lazy to look up any of my old sources to cite here, I'm fairly sure that smoke and perfume can produce sensitivities, but they are not considered to be the same thing as allergies.

[Shay]

Yeah yeah, but it's just easier to call it all allergies.

[Jemmabean]

Allergy has 7 letters and sensitivity has 11. I would prefer to make four additional keystrokes and use the correct term that save the four keystrokes and be incorrect. Maybe that's just me though.

EDIT: And as an afterthought, "Allergic" has 8 letters and "Sensitive" has 9. So, really, if you're using the sentence "I'm allergic to/sensitive to X" then you only need to make one additional keystroke to be right.

[Shay]

Well then technically I'm not allergic to anything. I failed my allergy test. LOL

My ENT said that I had non-allergic rhinitis and I'm just really sensitive to a lot of stuff. But I'm sure most people would agree that it sounds much better to say that someone is allergic to something than sensitive to it. Just a lot more pleasing to the ears in my opinion.

[Jemmabean]

That one I have to give to you. The "A-Word" makes me absolutely melt under the right circumstances.

[krazykat]

Yeah, I agree with Kythe its so much easier to use 'allergy' incorrectly than it is to talk about being sensitive to something... thinking of some of the people I have known over the years, they would take 'sensitive' as meaning that I just don't like being around cigarette smoke or was being funny, whereas even the few friends that I have who do smoke know that when I tell them that I'm allergic to something and that it bothers my asthma, that they should take it seriously and not smoke around me. Plus, they wouldn't want to be deprived of their nicotine long enough to deal with potential hospital admissions

[Shay]

Yeah that is another good point. People will take you more seriously if you use the word allergic over sensitive. Sensitive doesn't sound that serious, but it really can be.

[krazykat]

Sensitive doesn't sound that serious, but it really can be.

Yeah... tell me about it! Am just back from the doctors, have to go back on steroids again for the 'sthma, but on the plus side, once they kick in I'll be ready to party... they always make me hyper

[Chanel_no5]

Technically, noone is allergic to cigarette smoke, just like technically noone's allergic to perfume or scents, either. Allergies produce a histamine response, and while I'm too lazy to look up any of my old sources to cite here, I'm fairly sure that smoke and perfume can produce sensitivities, but they are not considered to be the same thing as allergies.

*pouts* My character is ALLERGIC to it.

[Jemmabean]

She can be allergic to whatever she wants to be... Rawr.

[*~Blue~*]

haha let me first say, wow did this ever go off topic... sorta.... :S yeah... anyways

I'll have to find out more about this "allergy" (the quotations were for you tys ) of his to see exactly what his reaction is to it..... I might just have to "accidentally" take us to places where people smoke....

Editted cuz I cun spel!

[Trillium]

TYS is right . . . cigarette smoke is an irritant, and most allergic people have an "allergic-like" response to it which is not histamine-mediated but looks an awful lot like an allergic response. Same goes for campfire or fireplace smoke, exhaust fumes, perfumes, strong scents (unless of course you're allergic to a food that produces the strong scent, which might be a true allergic reaction).

As for me, cigarette smoke, no matter how stale, makes me sneeze and then kicks in my asthma, so it's doubly delightful. (not really)

[Guest danky]

I'm "allergic" to it, but sadly not sneezily. It just makes me fatigued and gives me a headache, the strength of which depends on how much smoke and how long I'm around it. Besides that, I feel it kind of reeks. But I don't stop people around me from smoking unless we're with someone I know has a strong reaction. They know very well they're committing slow, expensive scuicide, and if I do make someone stop smoking, I don't want it to be just when I'm around and with a groan, but for good.

Incidentally, even though I'm all for the proper use of words, I guess I'd rather use the word allergic than sensitive, even when the other not only is the correct term but more fitting to the description of the reaction in question, at least when I'm talking to other people. Mostly because I'm used to it, they're used to it, and they understand allergic because of that. I like being understood. Also, dispite being born and raised in the USA, I like to spell grey with an e. It seems more like how it sounds to me that way, similar to my bad habbit of spelling color as "collor". Even though it makes me unhappy, the English languige is an evolving thing as people change what they mean by certain things over time, and refusing to change means being left behind in the long run. I can wish there was a country called Czechoslovakia simply because I'm used to saying it, but it won't make Slovakia and the Czech Rebublic rejoin. Ye olde habbit dieth hard.

[Coffee Mug]

Is it just my impression but I notice that only female are allergic to cigarette smoke... hmmmm

[Umeko]

nope If I was I wouldn't be able to call myself a smoker >.> yeah I smoke